


Gamer Girl

by DawnWave



Category: Miraculous Ladybug, Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Insensitive class, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Mentions of Major Character Death, Salt, Saltinette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22447591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnWave/pseuds/DawnWave
Summary: Marinette's class is planning a party but Marinette has other plans for that day
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito
Comments: 47
Kudos: 860





	1. Chapter 1

You would think that Lila Rossi’s lies would be exposed quickly once they had been posted onto the Ladyblog. In fact, you would think that they would be exposed almost as soon as they were spoken with someone so smart in the class. Either way, you would be wrong. It had been six months since the Liar had joined the class and the lies she had told still hadn’t been exposed. Marinette had tried at first but she had soon stopped when it became clear to her that as long as Lila had a story to tell, her class would listen.  
  
As a result of this Marinette had stopped trying to protect her class from Lila’s lies. She had taken to simply ignoring her. She had started to ignore her class too. She didn’t make them the huge birthday cakes or mountain of cupcakes anymore. She didn’t bring in cookies for the whole class once a week and she stopped making personal gifts for everyone. If they wanted anything they had to ask for it but that would require that they remembered that she existed first. It was at the stage where if she didn’t remind her class that she was there, they simply forgot her.  
  
She honestly didn’t mind though as it had freed up quite a bit of time for her. Her design business had taken off in Japan as she had several friends there. If she wasn’t ladybug she would have considered moving there as she was much happier there then she was here in Paris. It was due to this that when Marinette had any downtime she had taken to gaming again. Not just any gaming but playing VRMMORPG’s. She had been a little wary of them after being caught in SAO several years prior but when Yui had contacted her after Kirito had logged in to ALO to try to save Asuna, she had willingly gone back into a full dive in order to help him and continued to do so as she went on frequent raids with his group. She had met Kirito when he had wandered into her clothing shop looking for a way to either upgrade or replace his black coat on one of the days that she had been running it rather than leaving it to an NPC. The two had partied together at her suggestion to get the correct mats and had become fast friends with him coming to her whenever he wanted his wardrobe upgraded. Unfortunately, she had reduced the amount of time she had spent gaming due to her class relying on her for so much but now that they weren’t, she had picked up where she had left off.  
  
Her stats had skyrocketed with her return to gaming and she had realised that her crush had made her act a little like Klien did whenever he saw a pretty girl. As soon as she realised this she had taken a hard look at herself and decided that while Adrien was handsome, he wasn’t worth making a fool of herself over. The fact that the girls in her class weren’t pushing her at him anymore helped with getting her to calm down too and now she was able to speak to him without looking like an idiot.  
  
The past week had been quiet. She’d seen her classmates all talking about something but Marinette hadn’t even asked what it was. She had a raid planned with Kirito and the others that she was looking forward too. Unfortunately, Asuna hadn’t woken from SAO. The blow she had taken from Kiyaba when protecting Kirito had killed her and not even the fact that the game had finished extremely soon after that had saved her like it had saved Kirito. The Asuna that had been pictured at the top of the world tree in ALO that had driven Kirito and herself back into gaming so soon after SAO had been cleared had been an AI that had been created by a mad man. Her family had been unwilling to believe that she was dead when everyone else had started to wake up, choosing instead to believe that she was one of the three hundred that were still trapped somehow. It had been a terrible blow to them when they had realised that this was not the case. The planned raid was one planned in her honour as this Saturday marked the anniversary of her death. Marinette still couldn't believe that three years had passed since she had been declared dead, nor could she believe all the VR events that had happened since then.  
  
Marinette had found it ironic that, now that she was no longer focused on Adrien, she had been able to see that she had had a crush on Kirito the whole time. When she had realised this the two of them had sat down and had a long conversation about their hopes and dreams. She had told him about her interest in fashion while in SAO and had kept him up to date with how her brand was doing IRL. In turn, he had told her about how his studies were progressing and how frustrated he was becoming by trying to read all the articles coming out of America about the advancements within his chosen field of study. His face when she had suggested that he have Yui run a translation program over them so that he could read them more easily had been fairly comical, even though she had reminded him that it would be in his best interest to learn English properly anyway.  
  
Marinette was drawn out of her musings when Mlle Bustier finally managed to get the class's attention.  
  
“Class I know this is may come as a surprise to you but due to the fact that Lila has to go to Achu and we won't be able to celebrate her birthday with her on the actual day, we will be hosting a party for her this Saturday.”  
  
The class immediately jumped into planning mode.  
  
“I'll do the music!” Nino called.  
  
“Ooh, Juleka and I can organise the decorations!” Rose pipped up  
  
“Oh please! I'm going to London with Mummy and Daddy and I'm taking Sabrina with me. You losers can count me out.” Chloe sniffed while Sabrina nodded quickly, even though she didn't look too happy about it.  
  
“We could have the party at the park,” Mylene suggested which had Kim, Max, Alix and Ivan nodding eagerly in agreement.  
  
“I can't guys, my father has me scheduled for an all-day photo shoot,” Adrien said while he rubbed the back of his neck and appeared regretful. Marinette doubted it but she didn't say anything.  
  
“Awe, that's too bad, maybe we can facetime you in one or two of your breaks? I can organise that easily!” Alya tried to comfort him by saying. Marinette shared a look with Nathaniel who shook his head showing that he didn't but this story any more than she did.  
  
“What about you, Marinette?” Mlle Bustier said in a sickly sweet tone as though she expected Marinette would agree no matter what her real plans were. The class looked at her expecting her to say she would organise the food because none of the others had offered to do so.  
  
“I have plans for Saturday,” Marinette stated calmly. Mlle Bustiers eyes turned cold even as the class started to protest and say she had to organise the food.  
  
“Now Marinette, don't you think it would be nice to organise the food for the party?” Mlle Bustier's voice was saccharine sweet as she tried to convince Marinette that she should just comply.  
  
“If you want the bakery to do the catering you need to place an order and pay for it like everyone else. I have babysitting for Madam Chamack in the morning while she does her grocery shopping and has a few other appointments. I also have plans for the afternoon but those are personal and something I have been helping to plan for a while now. I can't back out of them now.” Marinette rebutted firmly. She was going on the raid in Asuna's memory no matter what. As she spoke the expectant gazes of her class had turned to glares. “Look, you guys haven't wanted me around for over six months. I have resigned as class president, giving that title to Alya.”  
  
Just as Marinette was about to explain more, Kagami walked in wearing a yukata. It took a moment for the class to notice her but Marinette noticed something that the class hadn't noticed and quickly walked towards her.  
  
“Do you need some help with retying your yukata?” She asked quietly, not realising that she had slipped into Japanese as she spoke.  
  
“Please,” Kagami's voice was filled with relief even as she let Marinette adjust and retie the garment. “How do you know how to do this, let alone speak Japanese so well?” Kagami asked as Marinette worked. Neither girl noticed the class staring at the two of them in shock. When everything was tied properly Marinette stepped back.  
  
“I have my own set of yukatas from some of my closest friends in Japan. When you spend as much time with people as I did in the game, you try to find other things to keep you occupied other than grinding for levels. Asuna, Lisbeth and Silica all got together to teach me how to tie mine without relying on in-game mechanics. They also worked on my accent which is why I barely have one when I switch to Japanese, or so I have been told.” Marinette smiled sadly as she remembered the times they had gotten together to have a girls night at one of their homes. The game mechanics meant that they hadn't been able to do much by way of dress up or spa treatments but because Marinette had the tailoring skill she could manipulate fabrics and they had taught her that way. She shook her head quickly and looked back to Kagami.  
  
“Are you comfortable?” Kagami nodded and thanked her and they spoke for a little while longer before Kagami left and Marinette turned to walk back to her seat, only to see the class staring at her.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Marinette, what was that? What language were you speaking? Since when are you and Kagami friends?” The three questions had been thrown at her by Alya, Mlle Bustier and Adrien. Marinette sighed and shook her head then answered.  
  
“In order, that as you so eloquently put it Alya, was me helping Kagami to retie her yukata as it is always easier to do when someone helps you, especially if you want one of the more complicated knots. The language, Mlle Bustier, was Japanese. One of the five languages I speak fluently. The other three are Cantonese, Italian and English. I didn't list French as it should be obvious. And as for your question Adrien, Kagami and I became friends on Friendship day while playing that game. I stuck to French that day so I'm not sure she knew to come here but it doesn't matter.” Marinette was walking back to her seat as she spoke, taking care watch where she put her feet as the class had taken to trying to trip her every so often.  
  
“Why did you need my help when your uncle visited then if you can speak Cantonese?” Adrien said in bafflement.  
  
“Simple. Uncle Fu speaks Mandarin not Cantonese so we wouldn't have been able to understand each other. I also thought you might enjoy a day practising a language that you were being taught rather than just reading it.” Marinette replied with a small smile even as she sat down again. The class was still glaring at her but she ignored them and Lila quickly reclaimed their attention with some false tears and a sob story.  
  
By the time Saturday came around the class had forgotten all about the incident with Kagami and Marinette's refusal to help out with the food or having anything to do with the party. This left the class scrambling to organise food and drinks in time and unfortunately made everything a lot less enjoyable then they had hoped it would be. Marinette, on the other hand, had had a fabulous time looking after Manon as Kagami and her mother had come round and between them they had dressed Manon up in different yukatas and kimonos, teaching Manon how to speak a few words in Japanese at the same time. Despite her very stern nature, Kagami's mother had seemed pleased to be passing on a small part of her culture to others who were eager to learn.  
  
The raid had gone well too and she and Kirito along with the others had shared some of their favourite stories about Asuna once it had been completed. Despite the sombre reason for the gathering, everyone had made the effort to be happy and to celebrate the good times they had had with her and with each other. They had held the get together at Marinette's home, which was above her in-game shop so they hadn't needed to worry about finding a private spot when they were ready to log off.  
  
When Marinette had walked into class on Monday, she had expected to be bombarded with stories of how great the party was. Instead, she was met with sullen glares and dead silence. Marinette raised an eyebrow but shrugged and ignored them, turning her attention back to her phone. She had woken up an hour early but instead of getting up straight away she had started messaging Kirito as he had been online. They had finally decided to give dating a try the previous day but they were taking things fairly slowly. Currently, they were talking about if she would be able to visit during the upcoming school holidays and trying to work out the logistics if she got permission to do so.  
  
“Marinette.” Mlle Bustier called.  
  
“Yes, Mlle Bustier?”  
  
“I thought you were going to do the food for Lila's party on Saturday. Where were you?”  
  
Marinette raised an eyebrow. “I told you I had plans for Saturday and that I would not be at the party.”  
  
“Marinette, remember what I said about -”  
  
“Mlle Bustier” Marinette cut her off, “While you might think that babysitting and going to the memorial of a friend is less important than a party for someone who does not like me, I don't. While my friend was declared dead three years ago, Saturday was the first time any of us had the chance to truly get together and remember her. Asuna died trying to give others a chance to live and she deserved to be remembered by those of us who were closest to her.” Marinette's voice was sharp and her tone was ice-cold as she spoke. Mlle Bustier and the rest of Marinette's class stared at her. “Footage was recently released of how she died if you are callous enough to demand proof. Unfortunately, I think you are because if anyone except Lila tells all of you anything you just swallow it but as soon as it's to do with anyone else you insist on having proof.”  
  
Marinette could tell that the class was about to start shouting at her but she ignored them and looked at her phone only to freeze. From what she was seeing, Yui had copied herself onto her phone and found all the videos from the past six months, as well as recording the confrontation that had just happened and sent it to the School Board. Marinette had planned to try to get a bit more evidence before she did that but it seemed that Yui had decided enough was enough. She was brought out of her frozen state when she heard Max asking if he had permission to play the video he had found for the class. She was about to warn them that it was fairly violent but Mlle Bustier had already granted her permission and Markov was projecting the video of the final SAO battle against the Skull Reaper on the white screen that Mlle Bustier had pulled down to cover the blackboard.  
  
The class watched in horrified amazement at what was being shown and gasped when they saw the younger Marinette on the screen amid the fighters. Marinette could see they were wanting to point out the fact that this was a game, you couldn't die because of a game and that none of the female players had died in that fight when they saw that Marinette's eyes hadn't left the screen and that the video hadn't ended. They gasped in horror as they watched everyone collapse to the floor and screamed when a girl jumped between the two players that were duelling, killing her. The video ended and the class was silent. Marinette spoke then, breaking the silence in a voice that was so brittle and hollow that none of them knew what to think.  
  
“What you just watched was the final two fights of SAO. The girl that died was my friend Asuna Yuuki. Before you say it's just a game, get Max to look up the details. It was well documented. I'm going home, don't bother to try to stop me. You just made me watch my friend die AGAIN, I think I've earned my mental health day. I will stay in this class for the rest of the term, then I will be transferring to a different class. I want nothing to do with any of you anymore, Mlle Bustier I hope you are proud of yourself for letting things escalate to this.”  
  
Having said her piece, Marinette turned round and walked out of the room. She knew there would probably be Akumas that would be created by what had just happened but at that moment she just wanted to be alone. Or better yet, surrounded by here real friends.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pt 2 was meant to be a short continuation but it has run away from me! Pt 3 will hopefully be up soon as it's almost finished with pt being the last chapter... I hope!

When Marinette walked into the Bakery so soon after having left for school, Sabine knew something was wrong. For one thing, Marinette tried not to miss school if she didn't have to, the last time she had gone to school only to come back home was a particularly bad day when Marinette was nine. For another, Marinette didn't even bother to greet her simply walking past her and up the stairs without a word.  
  
“Marinette?” Sabine called tentatively after her daughter.  
  
“Maman, with all due respect I need to calm down right now before I speak to anyone.” Came the terse reply from her daughter's retreating form. “I'm going to see if I can go into full dive and join Kirito and the others for a while. When I'm calm I'll tell you what happened.”  
  
Sabine exchanged a look with Nadja, who had just walked in and shrugged. If Marinette asked for time to calm down first, it had to be something bad but both women knew there was nothing they could do until Marinette was ready to talk.  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Marinette waited for Tikki to climb out of her bag before she tossed it onto the chaise with her backpack joining it shortly after. She had just taken her jacket off when a voice echoed in her mind.  
  
“Lady Morning, I am-”  
  
“Yeah, I know who you are Hawkmoth and the answer is no. I am in no mood to deal with you or anyone else except those who truly would understand how I'm feeling right now. If you try to akumatize anyone else since I'm saying no, then I will track you down and I will make you feel all the pain I'm feeling right now.” Marinette growled at the villain. “Just for future reference, Ladybug will be told who you are because I've recognised your voice Gabriel Agreste! So leave me alone or it won't be Ladybug you have to worry about!”  
  
Tikki watched from her vantage point as Marinette fought off the Akuma that had flown into her jacket and listened in growing horrified pride as Marinette stood up not to Hawkmoth but to the person she had once looked up to. She hadn't known about the connection between Hawkmoth and Gabriel and under normal circumstances, Marinette wouldn't have been recognised his voice either. It seemed her anger was so potent at that moment that it burned away the magic that normally hid that sort of detail. Tikki watched as the dark purple butterfly escaped from the jacket Marinette was holding and quickly swooped down and purified it.  
  
She looked at Marinette's face but seeing the tears making their way down Marinette's cheeks, she decided to simply eat the offered cookie and return to her nest to watch over her chosen.  
  
Marinette, now free to feel, let herself cry for a bit before checking with Yui to see if her group was online and quickly joining them.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
When Marinette had stormed out of the classroom, the class had taken a moment to process what had just happened before turning to Max and Markov for clarification about what Marinette had said. It took him a moment to find the information but when he did his face paled and he ran for the rubbish bin and threw up.  
  
“Max?” Mlle Bustier asked softly. Max was quiet as he processed what he had just read further then he turned and faced the class.  
  
“We messed up. Big time. When Marinette said that people died from the game, she wasn't lying. That 'game' was called Sword Art Online or SAO to most people. Anyway, on the day it launched 10 000 people logged on only to find they couldn't log out. To people not logged on it looked like the people who were, were simply in a coma. It wasn't until after everyone had logged on that a message was released saying that if the people that had logged on wanted to survive, they had to clear the game. If they died in-game, they died for real because the headset, or NerveGear as it was called, they used would fry their brains.”  
  
Max closed his eyes and fought the urge to vomit again, his face was still ashen when he opened his eyes and looked at the class.  
  
“If the family members of someone who had logged in tried to remove the NerveGear, it would kill the person in full dive anyway. 3,853. That's how many people died in the game or through people trying to remove the players NerveGear. Over half of that was in the first month!”  
  
Max sank to the floor as his legs gave out from shock.  
  
“I can't believe Marinette was one of the ones that survived. From the video, we can guess that she was really strong but the other players we saw must have been strong too...” His voice trailed off as he thought about what his classmate must have gone through. Several members of the class nodded in agreement with his words. Suddenly Chloe spoke up.  
  
“Wait how long were they stuck in the game?”  
  
“I don't see how that's relevant Chloe but to answer your question two years two days one hour and fifty-five minutes. The extra day comes from the fact that 2024 was a leap year.” Max said softly.  
  
Chloe closed her eyes as though she was in pain. “Fuck! How did she not lose her temper with me?! I've bullied her for how long now about being clumsy but after that long in a coma, of course, she is going to be clumsy!”  
  
The class stared at Chloe in shock and even Mlle Bustier didn't say anything. Alya had her eyes on her phone and her hand was flying over a page she had next to her as she went over all the information she could find about SAO, presumably for a new story for her blog so she missed Chloe's statement completely.  
  
“She's stronger than the rest of us that's for sure,” Adrien's voice was soft but seemed to echo around the silent room.  
  
“What do you mean Adrian?” Chloe asked for once using his name instead of one of her twisted nicknames for him.  
  
“Think about it. Not only did she survive SAO but she is one of the few people who has never been Akumatised. Even with everything Lila and this class has done to her she has avoided Hawkmoth's notice. As we are yet to get an alarm saying there is an Akuma on the loose now, I think it's safe to say that she hasn't been Akumatised today either. Any of us would have been a prime target in Marinette's state but there's nothing so far.”  
  
Adrien's voice was still soft as he explained his logic and he was surprised when he saw a number of his classmates' nod in agreement with what he was saying. He was about to say more when there was a knock on the door and a smartly dressed man walked into the room.  
  
“Pardon the intrusion so early in the morning, I am Jean-François Thévenet. I'm one of the members of the school board. We were in the principal's office for our annual meeting when we all received a rather interesting email. Due to the nature of the contents of this email, we have decided that a formal investigation has to be launched.” The man paused as he took in the various looks of surprise and disbelief on each of the class members faces. His brown eyes cataloguing everything he was seeing with an impassive expression.  
  
“The results of this investigation will be determined by the findings. Now, each of your parents have been call and as such we have obtained permission to interview you all. Some parents have requested that an adult other than ourselves be in the room and we have agreed so long as they don't interfere with the investigation. To be clear, we have a very good record of what has been happening in this class for the past six months, all we want is the clarification of why it has happened and why it wasn't brought to our attention before now. Interviews will be done in a random order, so will Rose Lavillant follow me.”  
  
He didn't give anyone a chance to react, turning on his heel and walking out of the room with Rose scrambling to catch up to him. Whispers broke out as soon as the two were out of the classes eyesight as Caline Bustier stood in shock. An investigation? Six months? What was going on? As far as she knew, that morning was the first time anything untoward had happened in her classroom. Eventually, she managed to shake her thought clear and start the much-delayed lesson on the french revolution.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
When Yui had sent him a message to let him know that Suiren (Waterlily aka Marinette) would be joining him online shortly, Kirito had been confused. She was in Paris which meant that if he had the time conversion correct, she should be in school at that moment. His confusion Vanished the moment he saw her.  
  
“Suiren! Are you alright? Silly question, never mind.” Without giving her a chance to reply he pulled her into his arms. “I'm here, let it out,” he murmured to which the only reaction was her burying her face into his avatars chest and bursting into tears.  
  
They stayed like that even as the rest of the group arrived thanks to Yui calling them. Kirito slowly ran his hand up and down her back in comfort even as he looked at his friends in confusion. It was at the moment that Suiren murmured something that had Yui nodding.  
  
“Sui-chan said I could show you what has her so upset and why she isn't at school. I'm just glad that I copied myself to her phone!” Without further ado, a large screen appeared hovering in mid-air that showed Suiren as he everyday self walking into her class. It showed her teachers actions and Marinette's reactions. It skipped over playing the video of that fateful battle though, for which Suiren was grateful. She didn't think any of the people present needed to see that video. Instead, it skipped to Marinette telling her teacher off and carried on from there giving those present a view of what was carrying on in her class at that moment. Suiren turned to Yui.  
  
“How are you doing that?”  
  
“I tapped into the camera's you had the school install in every classroom after that Lila girl almost got you expelled.” Yui chirped happily. Suiren was quiet for a moment.  
  
“What are you thinking, Suiren?” Kirito asked her quietly.  
  
“That I'm honestly sick of Paris. I understand that it is where my parents are but I am the only  
person

at my school that went through SAO and I'm beginning to feel completely alone. I was never one to enjoy being the centre of attention and I feel like if the people I thought were my friends were truly my friends, they wouldn't have been swayed by Lila.” Suiren's voice was soft as she spoke, almost as though she was trying to work through an idea as she spoke.  
  
“I think I'm going to talk to my parents about the possibility of me moving to Japan and joining the school they set up for SAO survivors in order to make sure I'm at the right level educationally. I can always attend the Tokyo branch of ESMOD and most of the people I design for live in Japan anyway. Those that don't live in Japan, travel to it now and then for work much as they do to Paris so it's not like that's an issue.”  
  
“Want me to talk to Kikuoka to see if he can pull some strings? He owes me a couple of favours anyway...” Kirito offered, and after a pause, Suiren nodded.  
  
“I think that might be best. This is the last week of the current school term so I'll stay in Paris for another month and get everything sorted out that needs to be sorted out. I'll also need to talk to my parents. Yui if you could send what you've found to my home computer that would be a great help in convincing them to let me go!” With that plan settled the group moved to an area where they could do some mat collection for both Liz and Suiren as they had been talking about upgrading their gear for them.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The investigation that was going on at Collège Françoise Dupont had been slightly brutal in Marinette's opinion, even if it had had to be that way in order to get the full truth to be revealed. M. Damocles had tried to protest against the investigation and the board had eventually had to threaten to suspend him before he had reluctantly stepped aside and let them have access to everything that they needed. The interviews with her class as well as some of the other classes had gone about as well as the board had expected though and they hadn't been impressed by their findings. They were, even more, displeased when they had finally managed to contact Lila's mother.  
  
When the board had first tried to contact Signora Rossi they had been puzzled as to why her phone kept going to voice mail. As Alya was Lila's friend they asked if she had Signora Rossi's number on the off chance. She didn't but she willing handed Lila's number over to the board and when they compared it to the number they had for Signora Rossi they found that the two numbers were the same. So the board did the next best thing since Lila had said her mother was a diplomat for the Italian Embassy, they phoned them and asked to speak to her. Once again that failed to bring the desired result as there was no Signora Rossi registered as working for the Italian Embassy as a diplomat or otherwise.  
  
It took them two days but they eventually found her working long hours as a waitress in an out of the way restaurant. She had been shocked when she had been asked about everything that Lila had said or done as well as Lila's frequent 'trips' and 'illnesses'. It was only through sheer luck that Mr Pigeon had struck at that moment instead of her being akumatised. She had been absolutely devastated to find out that while she was working two jobs to give her daughter a better life than her own, that same daughter was lying through her teeth as though she was ashamed of her.  
  
Once that had been discovered, the board had taken a closer look at all the documents that Lila had given the school. These ranged from various doctors notes to letters that had supposedly come from her mother regarding her trips abroad. Once they had been check thoroughly they had set to work on trying to get hold of Lila who had proved to be most slippery. In the end, the board had simply handed her file over to the truancy office and made sure that she would be held back a grade due to all her absences and the sheer amount of work that Lila had had her classmates do for her. In the end, Lila's mother opted to move Lila to a different school where she gave the teacher very strict instructions on what to look out for with her daughter.  
  
As for the rest of Marinette's class? Well, they had found that life wasn't as easy as they remembered it being before Marinette had finally decided she had had enough. It seemed like all the little things were missing and for the first time, they started to realise how much her smile had brightened the day for many of them.  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a virtual cookie to those who can find the easter eggs hidden in this chapter. Also a big thank you to the people on Discord for all your help, you know who you are!

It turned out that it was relatively easy for Marinette to convince her parents to let her move to Japan, especially once Kikuoka confirmed that she could be enrolled at "SAO" Kikan-sha Gakkō for her last year at school. She would need to log in to ALO and do her placement exam there with him supervising but as far as everyone was concerned, that wasn't an issue. He had even managed to secure an apartment for her that the government would subsidise until she could get herself settled and her commissions flowing in regularly again. Marinette had been very calm when she had told him that she had a regular contract with both Shining Entertainment and Raging Entertainment to provide their idols with stage costumes as well as with LME to keep their talents looking amazing on the red carpet. Kikuoka had not been expecting that though and had stared at her like she had slapped his face with a wet fish for a good five minutes before shaking himself out of his stupor and asking for her autograph since he was a big fan of her designs.  
  
One of the things she knew that she had to do before she left for Japan was defeat Hawkmoth. Now that she knew who it was, she knew she would need a plan but she also knew that Chat Noir probably would freak out if she even suggested that Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth. He'd done that when she had suggested it when she had found the book after all. With this in mind, Marinette went to visit Master Fu.  
  
It took some time for her to explain the situation to him and eventually explain her plan but he had been surprisingly receptive towards her idea. Perhaps it was because she had explained that while she would love to be able to use Rena, Carapace and have Chat work with her, two of them were compromised and she had already explained her reservations regarding the last. Or perhaps he was just as tired as she was. Either way, Marinette had left his house as the new Guardian and with the Black Cat ring. It turned out that she hadn't had to worry about that as Chat Noir had visited him after their last Akuma battle and returned his ring saying that he no longer felt worthy of wielding it.  
  
Marinette's plan to take down Hawkmoth was simple. First, she would fetch people she knew could fight and were complete unknowns to Hawkmoth. Second, she would make sure they all knew what they needed to do while she sent Yui in to check for any surveillance that Hawkmoth may have and to neutralise it if at all possible. From there it would be a case of half of the group dealing with Mayura while the other half dealt with Hawkmoth. She just hoped that the people she wanted to ask would be up for the challenge!  
  
A quick check with Yui told Marinette that everyone she needed to talk to were at Gil's Café, the Dicey Café, so after making sure that she had the Miracle Box, she donned the Horse Miraculous and opened a portal in a nearby alley. After taking a moment to make sure she still had everything she quickly walked to the Café and walked in. It took a moment for her to be spotted but the reactions she received were well worth it as jaws dropped and Silica let out a soft squeal of excitement.  
  
“Marinette-Onee-chan!”  
  
Soon Marinette found herself being hugged by her group for what felt like the first time in ages.  
  
“Not that I object to the sudden visit but why didn't you tell us you were coming and how did you get here so fast?” Kirito asked curiously. Marinette was about to answer when Gil walked over.  
  
“I have a feeling this will be a serious talk. The Café is closing in 10minutes anyway so why don't we shelve the conversation until we can have some privacy?”   
  
Marinette thought for a moment then nodded. “Is it possible for me to give you a weird food order for while we talk?”  
  
“Sure, I can't guarantee that we'll have everything but we can try. What would you like?”  
  
“A full plate of chocolate chip cookies, a round of camembert, some sugar cubes, a bowl of berries, a couple of eggs, some green tea, some raw broccoli and mushrooms if possible please,” Marinette said calmly while the group looked at her with slight concern and a large dose of curiosity.  
  
“Well, you did say it would be weird! I'll bring it out when I come out to join you after closing up if that's alright?” Gil said with a laugh. Marinette nodded happily then let her attention wander slightly as the others started talking again.  
  
It wasn't long before the weird platter of foods was on the table along with drinks for everyone else and they were looking at her expectantly. Marinette took a deep breath then started to explain what the situation in Paris was, what she had found out about Hawkmoth and why she was asking them for their help.  
  
“You're free to refuse so please don't feel like you have to help,” She concluded.  
  
The group was silent for a moment before Klein burst out “Being able to turn into a super-hero outside of VR would be totally EPIC! I don't know about the rest of you but I'm in!”  
  
“I'm in too!” Kirito exclaimed in unison with Suguha and Silica. Lisbeth, Agil and Sinon following suit a moment later.  
  
“Alright,” Marinette said as she took a deep breath then handed a box to each of them. “Each of these boxes contains the miraculous that I think would best suit you. When you open them, there will be a small but bright light that will appear, much like when an item is materialised  
in-game. The light will condense into a kwami or quantic universe Kami.” She paused as Tikki flew out of her bag and sat on her shoulder to watch everyone's reactions. “Tikki is my kwami but no two ever look the same.”  
  
Marinette's friends stared at her even as Tikki waved from her perch before Kazuto took a deep breath and opened his box. Plagg's green ball of light flew out at was about to head straight for the cheese on the table when Tikki stopped him.  
  
“Plagg! You are meant to introduce yourself first! Besides you aren't hungry, you were fed just before we left as were the others. How rude!” Tikki was so busy reprimanding Plagg that she missed the amused looks on everyone else's faces only to pause when Klein turned to Kazuto.  
  
“Well, at least we know the main reason you two will get along, your appetites are the same!” Marinette and the others all burst out laughing but Plagg just pouted.  
  
“Hi, I'm Plagg, Kwami of the Black Cat Miraculous. To transform simply say 'claws out' and to transform back to your normal self it's 'claws in'. My power is 'Cataclysm' and once you've used it you'll have five minutes to get to hide before you transform back. I need Camembert to power back up.” Marinette snickered slightly at the put upon look on Plagg's face.  
  
“Oh, you silly grumpy cat! You and I both know that you can do perfectly well with any food that has a 'decomposition' element to it, like yoghurt, mushrooms or cheese. You just like camembert best!” Marinette teased.  
  
“Pigtails!” was the squawked reply to that but Marinette didn't pay any attention to Plagg, simply gesturing to the others to open their boxes.  
  
One by one Sass, Longg, Trixx, Stompp, Kaalki and Wayzz appeared and introduced themselves to Silica, Klein, Suguha, Agil, Sinon and Lisbeth respectively. Once everyone had been introduced to each other, Marinette started talking again.  
  
“Right, the reason I came here tonight rather than in a weeks time was so that each of you could get to know your partners. The platter of food that I asked for has each of their favourite foods on them. I thought you might like to try transforming at least once. I don't think any of you should try using your powers but at least you can see what they transformation feels like. This coming week is so that you can get used to your weapons and how your body feels when you transform.”   
  
Each of them nodded and one by one called for their transformations. Soon Marinette was the only one that hadn't transformed in the room. Since they looked at her expectantly she shared a smile with Tikki and called for her own. It was because of this that she was slightly surprised by the fact that her suit had changed.  
  
Gone was the onesie style suit and in its place a suit she had never seen before but had designed in her head a few times too many. She was wearing a cheongsam that had two long slits up to her hips to allow for easy movement. It was a deep blood red with black accents, a modified ladybug symbol sat in the centre of her back. A close look at the symbol revealed that her spots were not spots at all but the symbol for the Miraculous order done in tiny stitches. Her legs were covered in plain black tights and her feet were covered by what looked like ballet flats but with better soles that would still let her run over rooftops easily. Her hands and arms were covered in black gloves that seemed to be attached to the short sleeves of her dress. Her hair was done in an elegant braided bun with two scarlet ribbons twisting through it. Only her mask had remained the same.   
  
Once Marinette had finished cataloguing all the changes to her outfit, she took the time to look at everyone else's outfits. It looked like Silica had chosen to go with an outfit that was obviously based on her ALO avatar's outfit except instead of blues, golds and blacks her outfit was in shades of teal and turquoise. It had a very subtle scale-like pattern over the whole outfit and her mask was reminiscent of Pina's face, just with scales instead of feathers.   
  
Lisbeth, on the other hand, had taken the idea of being a protector to heart. She was wearing a plated armour dress in shades of jade green that fit snugly over her chest, tapering at the waist and flaring out over her hips and falling to mid-thigh length. There was a cape-like skirt that fell from her hips to her ankles that was ridged enough to look like armour yet flexible enough that she could still move easily. Her boots continued the armour theme as they came up over her knees with mesh-like tights

completing the look. Her hands and forearms were encased in gauntlets and the same mesh-like material as her tights protected her arms and shoulders. Her mask was a basic domino mask with hexagonal detailing much like one would find on a turtle's back. The different shades of green that made up the outfit made it look like it had been cut from Jade and oxidised copper although Marinette knew it was much stronger.  
  
It seemed like Suguha and Sinon had had the same base idea and adapted it so that it fit them. Both were dressed like kunoichi with battle kimonos and obi's that were in shades of burnt orange and cream for Suguha and shades of black and grey for Sinon. They were both wearing leggings and fingerless gloves. The biggest difference in their outfits apart from colour was that Suguha had opted for shinobi sandals whereas Sinon had gone for open toes boots with thick soles. It was only when Sinon moved that Marinette noticed that her outfit blended into the shadows perfectly which would allow her better stealth options. Sinon had chosen to take this a step further by having her mask cover her lower face and her miraculous took the form of a visor over her eyes. Suguha, on the other hand, had a stylised porcelain Kitsune mask that covered her face completely and as she moved Marinette could see that her obi didn't end in a bow on her back but rather in six tails each tipped in that same burnt orange.  
  
Marinette then looked to the guys in their little group. Agil had gone for heavy shoulder guards and body padding with a helmet that showcased an impressive set of horns and a brim that hid most of his face in shadows. He was in shades of pale blue with his bullwhip weapon acting as a tail that was swishing behind him slowly. All-in-all it gave him an appearance that made it clear that his main inspiration was the samurais of old.  
  
Klein, on the other hand, had gone for a hakama in the distinctive shades of red that was distinctive of the dragon miraculous. It was slightly reminiscent of his ALO gear but with much more red. He had the same mask like the one Kagami had but had the spikes coming off his shoulders instead of in his hair like horns. The dragon's symbol was resting on the belt that the sword was hanging from.  
  
Finally, Marinette let her eyes fall on Kazuto. It looked like he had chosen to base his suit on his GGO combat gear. The biggest difference that Marinette could see was that his pants tucked into his combat boots and his hair stayed short. Like Chat Noir, Kazuto had gained cat ears and his mask gave him much more cat-like eyes, however, his were gold rather than green. His hair had stayed short and he had gained cat claws on his gloves, however, his baton stayed attached to his hip much light his GGO blade. The other thing she noticed was there was no green to be seen on him except for the paw print on his ring and his baton.   
  
Now done with looking them over, Marinette leaned back against the back of her chair.  
  
“So what do you want your hero names to be? I'd make sure you have one ready if I were you. I was caught completely unprepared and am stuck with the name Ladybug, something I didn't get to choose for myself.” She asked with a small smile. One by one her friends closed their eyes as they thought over names before smiling and nodding, letting her know that they had chosen.  
  
“Well?”  
  
“Igneel,” Klein said with a smirk.  
  
“Minotaur” Agil stated calmly.  
  
“Naga” Silica piped up shyly.  
  
“Centinal” Sinon muttered.  
  
“Inari,” Suguha chirped.  
  
“Syrup,” Lisbeth said with a large grin, making the others look at her in confusion.  
  
“Cait Sith,” Kazuto said with a fond smile at Silica.  
  
Marinette nodded even if she didn't understand a couple of the name choices. She then spent the next hour teaching them as many tricks that their weapons as she possibly could before asking Centinal to open a portal for her to get home.   
  
“I'll get Yui to send Kazuto a message for when I'd like you to portal through to Paris as well as the co-ordinates. Hopefully, by this time next month, I will be in Japan full time.”  
  
Having said that as well as her see you laters, she stepped through the portal, back into her room dropping her transformation and collapsed into bed.


	4. Chapter 4

As far as Marinette's classmates were concerned, this present school holiday sucked. Alya was grounded due to her part in ostracising Marinette. Nino was grounded because the investigation had uncovered that he and Alya were pushing their babysitting duties off onto Marinette so that they could go on dates. As far as he knew Alya's parents hadn't been told that piece of information yet. Max was banned from using technology for a week and would have to attend a course of ethics before he was allowed full access again. The rest of the class had also been given lectures by their parents but as they hadn't physically done anything, just abandoned a friend, they were all being subjected to further lectures on how to recognise toxic people.   
  
As for Mlle Bustier and M Damocles, they were both informed that due to the shortage of teachers in Paris thanks to nobody wanting to move there (Thanks Hawkmoth!) they were both to attend several courses on abuse of power, recognising bullying and following protocol no matter who the student was. They were both being reassigned to a different school where they would teach at a more appropriate level for their personalities and skills.   
  
Marinette wasn't happy either. Hawkmoth had stepped up the number of Akuma's he was making recently and so far there had been at least one a day. She had had to call on Kagami to take up a new mantle, that of the Bee, to help her in battle. As far as Marinette could figure out, Hawkmoth was getting frustrated by the lack of black cat showing up. He was also fully aware that he was running out of time due to his attempted Akumatisation of Marinette but as far as Marinette could tell, he hadn't given up on his goal yet. In all honesty, she was just grateful that he hadn't become desperate enough to akumatise a criminal.  
  
By Saturday, Marinette had had enough. She knew all she could about the Agreste household thanks to Yui and she was sick of having to fight increasingly violent akumas on a daily basis. That day's had been a mother who had just lost her child and was desperate to either get the child back, make sure no-one else could have one or force them to have one as she cycled repeatedly through the denial stage of grief. The colour of the beam that hit the women determined which of the second two outcomes they received. When Ladybug and Hachibi had finally defeated her after using Venom, a photo that her lucky charm created and a pot of honey, they had both been exhausted. Since Ladybug wanted to be extra careful due to the nature of the beams, she issued a quick statement saying she was unsure what the cure would have done for those hit as there were no physical signs and as such she recommended that all the women hit by the beams go to their OBGYN to get checked at their earliest convenience. She had even added that she would be doing the same as she knew she had been hit as well.  
  
Once they were in a place that was safe for Hachibi to drop her transformation and give back her Miraculous Ladybug decided that they might be able to use her the next morning too.  
  
“Wait for a bit, Hachibi. I'd like you to meet me at the Musée d'Orsay, at say 10 pm tonight if possible. I have something I'd like to talk to you about.”  
  
“Whatever you need, Ladybug,” came the calm reply and the two separated until it was time for them to meet up again.  
  
During the meeting she had requested, she had sat down with Hachibi and told her about the plan to take down Hawkmoth, as well as the fact that they would have a backup who could only speak Japanese or English. She had hastened to reassure Hachibi that the back up had been told about her and they wouldn't attack her. Although it had been a risky move she had also revealed her identity to Hachibi only to almost be tackled off the roof by her friend.  
  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *   
  
  
7 AM arrived way too quickly for Marinette, the meeting the night before had lasted for well over an hour and she was still tired from facing so many Akuma's. Still, she had managed to wake up at 6 AM, had had a hearty breakfast and had told her mother that she was meeting some friends and spending the morning with them as she ran out the door, making sure she had food for each of the Kwami's in case it was needed. Her mother had tried to ask who but Marinette had pretended not to hear her as she ran to a place to transform and get to the area where she would be meeting everyone. A quick message from Yui told her they were about to leave Japan so she picked up her pace, landing minutes before the portal opened.   
  
Ladybug smiled as her friends walked through the portal already transformed and looking ready for anything.  
  
“Welcome to Paris! I wish it were under better circumstances though. Now we are just waiting for Hachibi. Igneel, please don't drool over her as you do after every pretty girl, she might gut you for the insult.” Ladybug said with a smile having already seen Hachibi walking up behind them. Cait Sith had heard her but he wasn't showing that he had beyond a subtle hand signal that she had returned with the code for 'friendly'.  
  
“Oh Ladybug, you say the sweetest things,” Hachibi deadpanned causing Igneel to jump and whip around to face her. The rest of the group laughed at his discomfort even as he tried to stop his usual stuttering reaction.   
  
“Alright, if everyone would take the earpiece from your weapons, we'll do a quick com check then head out. Yui has already sent a safe route through to each of your weapons as well as your normal phones so hopefully, everything goes smoothly. I know Hachibi and I are the only ones with experience in this but treat it like a boss raid.”   
  
Ladybug paused and took a deep breath before continuing, “I have no idea what he wants to use the wish for so Cait Sith you and I will need to be extra careful to make sure he doesn't get our miraculous. I've taken a precaution so he can't get mine but still. Either way, Hawkmoth aka Gabriel Agreste is desperate so don't underestimate him, no matter what. Does everyone remember the plan.”  
  
They all nodded showing they understood how serious the situation was. “Good, let's go”  
  
The nine hero's moved as quickly as they could through the still morning. They hadn't dared to use the horse miraculous to portal in as Kaalki had already had to recharge once that morning and they didn't want to lose their escape route so soon.   
  
They landed silently on the roof and quickly slipped in through the unguarded window that Yui had found. From there the group split in two with Centinal, Naga, Igneel and Hachibi heading for M Agreste's room in the hopes that he would still be asleep and thus caught unaware. Since Yui had been monitoring the camera's they knew he was still in his room, they just didn't know if he was awake or not. Either way, Hachibi would use Venom on him and they would take his Miraculous from him. Centinal would then knock him out and bind him with whatever she could find in the room and she and Naga would bring him to his office. Hachibi would have to use his bathroom to recharge.  
  
The others had all headed straight to his office. They knew from prior surveillance that Mayura aka Nathalie Sancoeur would arrive at 7:45 AM and if she followed her normal pattern she would head straight for her desk without looking around. The plan was for Inari to cast Mirage so that she didn't notice anything different about the room. Minotaur would then use his whip to flick her miraculous off of her coat while Ladybug tied her up. Inari would probably have come very close to timing out by that stage so Cait Sith would have been using the time to make sure that all the computers were down and that any other defences wouldn't activate. Yui had been monitoring them but she hadn't figured out how to bypass all the firewalls the way Cait Sith could. Once that was done, they would blindfold both M Agreste and Nathalie so that Inari could drop her transformation, recharge and transform again.  
  
For the most part, everything ran exactly as planned. The only part that didn't was Hachibi running into Adrien who came out of his room early, intent on confronting his father about Lila. Seeing as she couldn't deter him she had thrown up her hands in frustration and had him follow her to his father's office. She had sent a quick message to the team to alert them of the situation as they walked so they hadn't been surprised when he joined them.  
  
“Ladybug? What's going on?” He asked as soon as he walked into the room. “Who are the rest of these people? Why do you look so different?”  
  
Ladybug sighed. “Do you remember the day Marinette walked out of class thanks to needing a mental health day?” She asked in resignation, choosing not to answer the question about her team nor about her new appearance.  
  
“Sure, the who class felt guilty about it as her reaction gave them a wake-up call. Even Chloe felt guilty.”  
  
“Hawkmoth tried to akumatise Marinette, only for he anger to burn through the magic that usually works as glamour to hide a Miraculous users identity. She recognised Hawkmoth's voice and sent me a message telling me about his identity. Today we managed to catch him and Mayura and remove their miraculous.”   
  
“Wait! Are you telling me my FATHER was Hawkmoth this whole time?” Adrien interrupted furiously.  
  
“Sadly, yes,” Ladybug replied showing Adrien the two Miraculi that they had confiscated from the two adults that were bound on the floor. Since M Agreste had regained consciousness and they had never knocked Nathalie out, both of them were glaring at Ladybug.  
  
“Look, Adrien, I know you probably don't want to believe me but-” Ladybug stopped when she saw Adrien wasn't listening to her.  
  
“I don't know why you would do this. I knew you were a terrible father but to be a supervillain? Just when I thought you couldn't get any worse!” He snarled at his father before turning and stalking over

to a painting on the wall. “You might want to get this open somehow. It has a safe behind it.” Ladybug nodded and pulled the mouse miraculous out from her yoyo and slipped it on, causing Mullo to appear.  
  
“Hi hun, can you please see if you can open this safe?” Ladybug asked the kwami making sure she didn't say its name to make sure that no-one could control it if they escaped. Mullo nodded eagerly and flew through the painting while clicked open a moment later. Inari walked over with a bag she had pulled out of her flute and handed it to Ladybug, who quickly went through everything and only took things that were miraculous related including Master Fu's old tablet that had been stolen during Miracle Queen. She found a couple of diaries that were by Ms Agreste that she gave to Adrien before looking at Cait Sith and Minotaur who spoke to each other in whispers.  
  
“Anything I should know?” She asked and they nodded.  
  
“There are a couple of buttons on the second portrait over there that takes you to his lair,” Minotaur said calmly.  
  
Syrup and Naga quickly walked over to the picture in question and looked at it carefully. While they hadn't understood the French itself, all the kwami's had made sure to include a translation function in the earbuds so that anything said in French was relayed in Japanese to them. Minotaur was the only one of them outside of Hachibi and Ladybug who understood French after all. As far as Ladybug was concerned, though, that information was need to know and no one outside her group needed to know.  
  
“Minotaur, Cait Sith, would you two please go with Naga and Syrup to check out what is there and let me know? Igneel, Inari, Hachibi we need to make sure that there is nothing in M Agreste's room or anywhere else in the house that could lead back to any of us, or to the Miraculous in general so please spread out and search. If you find anything, place it in your weapon and we can sort it out when you come back.”   
  
A quick nod from each of them and the new Miraculous team had disappeared to do their assigned tasks. Ladybug turned her attention back to Adrien, his father and Nathalie.  
  
“If I ungag you, will you answer my questions?” She asked facing M Agreste. A sullen nod was all she received in reply. A quick nod to Adrien had M Agreste gag removed.  
  
“What do you want to know?” He asked sullenly.  
  
“I think the biggest question I have is why? Why would you choose to become a supervillain? You have a son that loves you, a successful business and a woman who is loyal to the point of becoming your sidekick by your side. What more could you want?”  
  
M Agreste was quiet for a moment before he spoke. “I'll answer your question but please answer this for me first, have you ever lost someone so dear to you that you would give almost anything to get them back?”  
  
“I have. I knew however that even if they did come back from the dead they would never be the same. They are at peace and if I brought them back could I really say that the life they'd lead would be a good quality one?” She sighed and slumped back so that she was leaning on his desk. “I've watched enough anime and read enough books to know that it just isn't worth the price it would cost to bring someone back from the dead. I'm guessing you are referring to your wife?”   
  
At his nod and Adrien's surprised gasp she continued, “Had you managed to get Chat Noir now Cait Sith's ring and my earrings and combined them to make that wish the consequences would have been horrific. The Elric Brothers had the lightest consequence in that the younger brother lost his body and the older one lost two limbs. A man in Atlantas made a wish for his wife to be bought back to life and that is why Atlantas was sunk, although the kwami for the Black cat gets blamed for it often enough. Even Pompeii's destruction was because a mother wished for her stillborn child to wake up. Were you prepared for that or worse to happen to Paris?”   
  
M Agreste looked stunned before asking quietly, “What would have happened if I had simply wished for her to never have used the Miraculous in the first place?”  
  
“A timeline change wish?” Ladybug clarified. M Agreste nodded.  
  
“While not as drastic as reviving the dead you would still have lost her. It would only have changed the method of how she died rather than keeping her alive. It would however also cause others to die, other people that are alive and well, though living in fear of their own emotions at the moment. Is it really what Mme Agreste would have wanted?”   
  
Ladybug's voice was full of compassion as she spoke to M Agreste and Adrien looked at her in amazement. How had he ever thought he was worthy of her? How had he ever thought that he would be more noticeable to her now that he no longer had the ring?   
  
He was about to blurt out that he was Chat Noir when Cait Sith arrived on the elevator platform that had taken him to Hawkmoth's lair and walked over to Ladybug, speaking quietly to her. Adrien was busy strengthening his resolve to grab the ring again when Cait Sith sighed and rubbed his brow then looked at Ladybug. Ladybug smiled sadly at Cait Sith and put her hand on his cheek in understanding. Neither had spoken aside from her giving him his report, yet they had managed to communicated flawlessly, something Chat Noir had never truly managed with Ladybug.   
  
A moment later, Minotaur arrived the same way and Cait Sith and Ladybug disappeared down with it again.  
  
“What's going on?” Adrien demanded. Minotaur sighed.  
  
“When we reached his lair we saw a garden area off to one side. Naga and Syrup went to check it out only for Syrup to call for me to go over. They had found what looked like something out of Snow White. A woman was lying in a clear glass chamber with all sorts of machines giving different readouts on a slightly raised area. Anyway, I sent Cait Sith back here because it would have hurt him more to stay but apparently, he wants to stay with Ladybug. So while she tries to see if anything can be done I'm to guard you.” Minotaurs voice was carefully neutral as he spoke, almost as if he was afraid his voice would give something away if it rose or fell too much.  
  
M Agreste was about to say something when a soft glow came from the elevator shaft, followed not a moment later by the elevator platform returning with Naga and Syrup. Once they were off the platform it quickly lowered again only to return with Cait Sith, Ladybug and to everyone's amazement an awake and alive Mme Agreste.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's been a long time coming and finally, the end is here! Virtual cookie for anyone who can guess who the character I'm referring to late in the chapter is!

“Gabriel?” Mme Agreste's voice was soft and roughened from not having been used for so long. She was leaning heavily on both Ladybug and Cait Sith who were carrying her in a two-handed seat carry as they didn't want her to injure herself. Although the Agrestes and Nathalie didn't know it, the Miraculous group knew how dangerous it was for one's health to move around by yourself after waking up from a coma. 

“Emilie? Is it really you?” M Agreste asked in amazement. Hachibi walked in at that moment carrying a glass of water, which let everyone in the room know that one of the others had called through the request.

“It's me. If you want proof I could tell everyone about that show in Milan where...”

“Nope, don't need proof!” M Agreste yelped going red. Nathalie snickered as she remembered the same event and knew it was a very good way to have proven that it really was Emilie sitting there after all only the three of them knew about it! Adrien just stood there as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

It took an hour but eventually, the whole story had been revealed. There had been crying, cursing, screaming and shouting. Ladybug had sent Minotaur, Naga, Syrup, Inari and Igneel home after it became clear that there would be no more fighting. She had asked Cait Sith if he wanted to leave but he had opted to stay, which had meant that Centinal had had to stay too. Since she had used Voyage she had had to leave for a little while to recharge but she hadn't minded. 

“So let me see if I have this straight,” Adrien started, “Mom used a broken miraculous until it put her in a coma that Ladybug and Cait Sith were able to wake her from since you had already fixed it. You knew about the guardian but instead of doing the normal, sensible thing, you became a supervillain. Seriously, what were you thinking? Especially with the sheer number of Akuma's that targetted my friends or me.”

“I wasn't thinking! All I knew was that we'd found the two miraculi and the book in Tibet. From there I had found out about the wish and as far as I could tell the wish would bring your mother back to me. I didn't listen when Nooroo warned me about the consequences nor that the wish would have a cost.” M Agreste replied before looking down in regret.

“Alright we are starting to talk in circles and I for one have better things to do with my day. I know Cait Sith does too. M Agreste, Mlle Sancoeur I'm sorry to say that it is not my place to decide what your punishment will be. In fact, I will never know how you are to be punished. The kwami will decide and a message will be delivered by their chosen method directly to you both.” Ladybugs voice was formal as she spoke, letting them know without an explanation that she was telling the truth.

“As for Mme Agreste as you were only listed as missing I recommend that you use the cover story of an abduction that you have only recently escaped with the help of a good samaritan that kept their features hidden and never said a word. There will doubtless be an enquiry but that is not my jurisdiction.”

Mme Agreste nodded slowly in response. Despite having only woken an hour before she was feeling very drained and quite ready to go back to sleep, something Ladybug and Cait Sith seemed to understand if their smiles were anything to go by.

“As for you Adrien, I recommend you use the chance that has been given to you. Your school is under investigation and to be honest it probably wouldn't have gotten as far as it did had you not told Marinette to take the high road with regards to Lila. Yes, she told me. She flagged me down one day while I was on patrol so that she could vent her emotions safely as she felt close to giving up. I think you need to take a hard look at your life and possibly what it means to truly be a friend because letting your friends get hurt the way you let Marinette get hurt is not how to be a friend.” 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

It took a week for the citizens of Paris to realise that there had been no Akuma's since 'Hell Week' as they had dubbed it where Akuma's had been an everyday occurrence. To be fair it was probably because the Ladyblog hadn't had its normal videos, it had been sharing videos of those fights from the Bugout Blog, as well as a commentary on each fight. It was through the commentary that they had noticed that Chat Noir hadn't shown up for any of the Akuma attacks. It had also been noticed that a new female hero, Hachibi had been helping Ladybug during that week. 

Alya was determined to track down Ladybug and ask her about the new bee hero and her new outfit as soon as her parents lifted her punishment. She had so many questions. Why had she chosen a new bee? Had Lila helped her? Where was Chat Noir? Was she patroling more often and was that why they had had no Akuma's recently? Unfortunately for Alya, she would not be the one to get those answers. Her parents had been told about her dropping her babysitting duties on Marinette. Unlike Nino, who had accepted that he was wrong in abandoning his responsibilities like that, Alya had tried all sorts of excuses to shift the blame. 

Three nights before Marinette was scheduled to leave for Japan, she decided that Paris needed confirmation that Hawkmoth and Mayura were gone. If this had happened when she had first started as Ladybug she would have given the interview to Alya but due to everything that had happened, it was Nadja that would be getting the interview. She had sent her a message as Marinette saying that Ladybug was requesting an interview the next day and that she would meet Nadja at the TVi studio at 10 AM.

There was a buzz around the studio when Ladybug showed up in her new outfit. Nadja had been quick to get her inside and away from anyone who might try to steal her scoop. As soon as Ladybug was settled on the couch for guests and the camera was rolling Nadja launched into her questions.

“Ladybug may I just start by saying I'm honoured that you chose me for this interview. That said I can't help but wonder about the change in your outfit and if there is any reason for it? Also, for someone who normally shies away from doing interviews and from the public in general unless it's to fight an Akuma, this is quite the change. Is there a special reason for this interview?”

“Hi Nadja, thanks for having me and at such short notice at that. The reason for my outfit change is quite simple when one understands the was the miraculous can work. That must stay secret for the most part however I will reveal that a wielders outfit will change if one or more of the required conditions for a change are met.”

Nadja looked a little disappointed at not getting a full answer but nodded none the less. 

“And the reason for this impromptu interview?” Nadja prompted.

“Oh, I think you will be happy about it. You see Nadja, Paris is finally free from Hawkmoth's reign of terror. I assembled a team and we managed to reclaim both his and Mayura's miraculous. I cannot divulge who they were in order to protect their families nor can I divulge what their punishments are, however, I will give you my word that they were caught and they are being punished.”

A quick look at Nadja's face had the camera crew cutting to an advert break as soon as they had gathered their own wits enough to do so. By the time the three-minute break was over, the phone lines, text lines and even the twitter feed were flooded with questions from everyone watching the special live broadcast. A glance through the texts and twitter feed revealed that most of Paris were demanding Ladybug reveal Hawkmoths Identity while a smaller but no less impressive amount were calling for Mayura's to be revealed.

Ladybug scowled at the messages that she was being shown.

“Seriously, what is wrong with everybody? I have just said that their identities will not be revealed to protect their families and yet that is what ninety percent of you are asking! If you had been Hawkmoth, wouldn't you want that to stay quiet if only to stop people attacking your family? I understand that you probably want revenge but I also think that you shouldn't turn to that as a coping mechanism. I've advised the mayor to bring in extra psychologists to help everyone as we've all had to suppress our emotions for so long that we are unsure how to deal with them now.” Ladybug closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose which made Nadja realise just how much of a toll everything was taking on Ladybug.

“Um, Ladybug?” Nadja started cautiously.

“Yes, Nadja?” 

“Are you alright?”

“I'll be alright,” Ladybug sighed before looking at the camera. “What Paris doesn't seem to remember is that while it is true that I have been one of this city's heroes for the past few years, I am also a normal girl with a semi-normal life. I've also had to control my emotions, something that hasn't been easy especially when Hawkmoth was having a blast with Akuma's during school exams or when I was trying to deal with other things in my own life. Being Ladybug has let me see a side of people that nobody my age should ever have seen. I had major PTSD and anxiety before I every donned my miraculous and it is only due to having friends outside of France thatI'm even remotely close to sane right now.” 

She paused as she considered her next words. “I won't be revealing who am I to anyone. Sure there are some people that know who I am, like my team, but outside of my team, I don't think anyone needs to know who I am. There is just too much that could go wrong. I will reveal this though, now that Hawkmoth has been defeated I will be leaving Paris and taking some time for myself. I think I've earned it, don't you?”

Nadja looked at Ladybug for a moment as did the camera crew. For the first time, they realised just how tired Ladybug looked.

“I'm tired, Nadja. I was a normal teenage girl on the day Stoneheart attacked. I was scared just like everyone else and when it started all I wanted was to get home and hide with my parents. I went to my room to pack up and follow the evacuation order only to see a jewellery box I didn't recognise on my desk and be thrown into the deep end of being a superhero like I was in some sort of cartoon. I didn't ask to take the weight of Paris' burdens on, they were thrown onto me. I've had to deal with the mayor criticising me for taking so long to find Hawkmoth but the truth is, I had a life I was trying to live too. Was I supposed to give up everything just to fight a bad guy? Was I meant to be this perfect hero that everyone can look to?” Ladybug flopped back in her seat as she looked at everyone around her sadly.

“I know about the number of people who criticised me about not returning Chat Noir's feelings but did anyone consider that I might have had feelings for someone already? Outside the Mask is a whole person with hopes and dreams and yet whenever I put my mask on everyone suddenly thought I should conform to an ideal that honestly wasn't and isn't me. I'm not perfect and I never will be but that's alright because I know that applies to everyone. So all I ask is that you look closely at yourselves and figure out if you would have been any better in my place? Or would you have placed the same restrictions and expectations on your child had you known? Would you have expected your daughter's to cave to that sort of treatment?” 

Nadja quickly signalled for the show to end there as she knew there was nothing more to say. Sure the tweets and texts were still coming through thick and fast but they were still mainly demanding the identities of Hawkmoth and Mayura. A disturbing amount were also calling for Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities too though. Nadja was quiet for a while as she scrolled through all the messages, then she came to a decision as she stood and stalked out the room. If the public wanted their heroes unmasked, they would just have to be disappointed. A quick meeting with her boss and TVi had an official statement that was available on every platform. They would not be looking for any of the secret identities, any of their staff found to be looking for them were to be fired with immediate effect, any applicants found to be researching that topic were going to be turned down. No Exceptions!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Due to the fact that she was moving to Japan, Marinette had chosen to fly there. Kikuoka had pulled through with his end of the deal and even gone above and beyond what they had agreed on by having a flat ready for Marinette as soon as she arrived. He had also organised for her to have her own flat and had a motorbike ready for her as soon as she passed her license test which he had booked her in for the next day. She had passed her school placement test easily and had been placed in the same class as Kirito which she was grateful for as it meant she had someone that could show her around for some of her classes at least.

It didn't take her long to get settled in after her arrival and she soon had a daily routine set up. Her counselling sessions had helped her overcome some of her insomnia problems which in turn meant that she wasn't oversleeping nearly as much as she had been in France. She still missed her parents but the video calls that she made to them helped to keep the edge off until they could come to visit over the month that the bakery would need to be shut down anyway. 

Her design business had picked up slightly now that she was based in Japan and she could travel to where ever the people she was designing for. She had loved the fact that she was popular enough to be able to open a studio closer to where her main clients were and she had even gained a new client in Queen Records. She would admit that there were some people that were signed with Queen records that she would rather avoid but business was business and all it had taken to pull get him under control was warning him that he wasn't her only client. Jagged phoning her for a video conference meer moments after she had told him off had definitely helped give Fuwa Sho a much needed reality Check!. 

She and Kazuto were officially dating and she had even met his aunt and uncle for dinner one evening. She had insisted on taking a desert round that night which had helped break the ice and conversation had flowed smoothly from there. The Kwami had loved the fact that she had let them all stay with those that had taken part in the final battle against Hawkmoth, with the exception of Pollen, and they loved the fact that they didn't have to hide when all of the group were hanging out together. The only complaint that she received was about Plagg's Camembert, so she had taken to suppling half of what Plagg needed each week and told Kazuto that he could substitute other cheeses in. Plagg hadn't been happy but he had accepted it after she had told him that it was that or nothing.

All in all, Marinette was happy. She knew that there would be more challenges in her future and now that she had the right support, she couldn't wait!


End file.
